Panflute

Is it weird that my first thought was "I wonder if I've heard of his band..."?

64th

Right now, this seems like the only likely scenario other than a Bernie landslide: It’s this line of thinking that’s led some anti-Bernie Democrats to conclude that their best hope is for Bloomberg to start spending tens or hundreds of millions of dollars on a negative ad campaign against the senator. That would presumably drive Sanders’s support down, but not necessarily position any of his rivals to pick up enough delegates to mount a serious challenge, especially if no one leaves the race. Nonetheless, a Bloomberg-funded barrage might keep Sanders’ ultimate delegate plurality lower than he’d like. “I do think there is a difference between winning 35 percent of the delegates and winning 45 percent of the delegates, and that’s basically where we are right now: is there going to be someone like Obama was in ’08 — not in a majority, but so clearly ahead that it’s a foregone conclusion? Or a muddle in the delegates, like the state results?” asked Addisu Demissie, a longtime Democratic strategist and Cory Booker’s 2020 campaign manager. “That’s the question.” No candidate is publicly admitting that they’re hoping for a muddle — each still professes to see a path to victory. But some candidate’s aides are still wondering, under their breath, whether they should be actively preparing to compete on the second ballot at the convention in Milwaukee. A second ballot could occur if Sanders’s final delegate total too small to carry him to the nomination on the first ballot. Bloomberg’s aides have quietly started wooing elected officials and other super delegates with this specific scenario explicitly in mind. https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/02/why-bernies-rivals-are-all-stubbornly-staying-in-the-race.html

Sanders winning big in Nevada, but more importantly, he's also polling well in North and South Carolina. In previous weeks, the polls there predicted a Biden landslide, but it seems the combination of a few elements has caused that to change: 1) Sanders's momentum; the latest results show he got over 46% of the votes in Nevada (while critics claimed before that he couldn't poll above 40% due to his 'radical' profile; 2) Bloomberg entering the race and taking away from Biden's support as another 'moderate' option. His debate performance was awful, but with the amount of money he can spend on ads and exposure, it might just be enough to keep the wind out of Biden's sails; 3) Sanders has spent a lot on improving his standing with minority groups. The latter point is summarized well by The Hill: In the 2016 primary, Sanders struggled mightily with voters of color, who broke in large numbers for Hillary Clinton and ultimately propelled her to the nomination. Since then, Sanders has invested heavily in outreach to racial minorities and he’s accumulated a diverse team of dynamic surrogates. Those efforts are paying off in 2020, as Sanders has built a diverse coalition of Latinos, young people, and union members, who drove him to a huge victory in Nevada, the most diverse state to vote so far. [...] While former Vice President Joe Biden has enjoyed strong support from black voters, there are growing signs that many African Americans are giving Sanders a serious look. An NBC News-Wall Street Journal survey released this week found Sanders and Biden in a statistical tie nationally among black voters. https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/484229-5-takeaways-from-the-nevada-caucuses

I went ahead and got the original versions of Megadeth's Countdown to Extinction and Youthanasia, and boy does it make a difference with the remasters. A much more juicy drum sound, plenty of reverb, and a greater dynamic range. After already getting the superior original mixes of Rust in Peace and Cryptic Writings, it really makes me wonder what Mustaine was thinking with the 2004 remasters.

Many other things such as the Democratic Party screwing over Bernie to get her on the ticket because of the "we need a moderate" narrative, the extreme sense of entitlement radiated by Clinton and her supporters for the entire duration of the campaign, Clinton's gender spearheading many of her campaign messages while ignoring the massive amounts of privilege she has enjoyed throughout life, her disastrous decisions as a secretary of state, her general unlikeability as a person, etc. Perhaps the conclusion that Clinton's demise means a moderate candidate will fail again is too simplistic, but even beyond that you can see people making the exact same mistakes as back in 2016: favoring a moderate candidate based on their potential bipartisan appeal alone while ignoring their immense flaws as politicians and people. The general lesson people need to draw from 2016 is that a candidate being more moderate doesn't automatically make them more electable. Hell, even Obama was considered a 'radical' candidate back in 2008. Bloomberg is essentially Clinton 2.0 in that sense.

Bloomberg is clearly trying to copy Trump's campaign in a lot of ways, what with boycotting debates and trying to sway votes digitally by paying influencer to make memes about him. There are a few vital shortcomings for Bloomberg, though, namely that you have to be funny to get away with saying/doing the things Trump says or does, and having the instinct/talent to manipulate the news cycles into revolving around you 24/7. Bloomberg sort of succeeded in doing the latter by sheer virtue of pumping money into ads, but since the debate the news stories have mainly been about how badly he got pummeled. I think Bloomberg and Trump are of a different order in the end; that they're successfully hitting Bloomberg with some of angles that could also be applied to Trump doesn't say too much as Bloomberg is running as a Democrat and is therefore a lot more vulnerable to these things. In any case, it'll be interesting to see where it goes. My prediction is still that it'll be Trump vs. Sanders, with Trump winning. If nothing else, I just hope that the "we need a moderate ticket to beat Trump" narrative will die down again, as these are the exact same arguments that led to Hillary Clinton and her historical failure.

None, it really isn't for me.

Earlier this week I saw a take on Bloomberg from a Bernie campaigner that seemed pretty spot on. It was something like, Michael Bloomberg is spending hundreds of millions of dollars of campaign money on preventing you from finding out who Michael Bloomberg really is.

Apparently Bloomberg got buried during the debate.

I can't see Biden dropping out so early as he's topping the polls in several Super Tuesday states. The polls in southern states are based on limited data so it remains to be seen how he actually does there, but by all means he'll remain in the race and see how his 'firewall' holds up, especially since Buttigieg has little chance there. My guess for the next major candidate to drop out would be Warren given how vastly she's underperformed so far. Sanders does indeed seem the most 'Trumpian' candidate for the Democrats given his relative distance from the party. Even some of the rhetoric in the traditional media is the same as during Trump's primary campaign, saying he 'can't poll above 40%' etc.

Does anyone have a shot at this other than Bernie at this point? The only other candidates to poll well leading up to Super Tuesday are Biden and, to a lesser extent, Buttigieg. I can't see Buttigieg having a shot as his polling numbers among black voters are nothing short of abysmal, and the same applies to a lesser extent to other ethnic minority voter demographics. And it might just be me, but he just seems thoroughly unlikeable even by political standards. Warren exists I guess. Didn't she get beaten by fucking Amy Klobuchar in New Hampshire? Biden has pretty broad support and do well in the Southern states due to the black vote, but this guy's such a goofball that he makes Trump look coherent. I feel that the longer he stays in the race the more he will get he chance to tank his own odds. The rhetoric that 'a centrist candidate will be better for the Democratic bill' is also something far fewer people will buy this time after the Democrats 2016 debacle. Sanders on the other hand seems to be doing pretty well in all demographics this time, and is also the main second choice for Warren and Biden supporters. Bloomberg has a lot of money and a terrible reputation. Can't see his candidacy going anywhere.

This is just really bizarre to me. Read it when I got out a gig yesterday night and I thought it was some sort of sick joke at first. Seems like something that would happen in an alternate universe or something. The sport lost a true giant and of course I hope his loved ones find the strength to process the death of him and his daughter.

Well, this was damn great. Setlist (from what I can recall:) Hangar 18 Wake Up Dead Sweating Bullets Dawn Patrol Poison was the Cure Trust Dystopia Symphony of Destruction Peace Sells The Conjuring Holy Wars... The Punishment Due

I agree on their self-titled, but... Charlotte the Harlot.